Basics – standard chord progressions

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There are chord progressions that get used over and over again. So often, that you already know them. Even if you’ve never thought about it, once you’ve had it pointed out, you will recognise them.

The purpose of this post is to show you a few of the more common ones. I’ll show you them in the key of C, but obviously they can be played in any key you like.

Beware of Cliche!

Before we start, let’s make one thing clear. If you use these chord progressions as they are, your song will be in danger of sounding like several others. These are standard progression, so they’ve been used hundreds of times before.

Does that mean you should just avoid them?

Maybe. It’s up to you. I certainly think you should be aware of what you’re doing. After all you can’t break a ‘rule’ if you don’t know it exists.

Standard progressions.

C Am F G (used in Stand by Me, Every Breath you Take and many more)

C G Am F (used in all sorts including ‘Today’ by the Smashing Pumpkins)

Twelve Bar Blues: C C C C F F C C G F C C (each chord for a bar. Used in countless blues and rock ‘n’ roll numbers)

Circle of fifths: C F Bb Eb Ab Db etc (lots of variations on this, often used in Jazz standards)

C Bb F (As used in Sweet Home Alabama)

Em C D (a common heavy rock/metal progression. See: most Iron Maiden songs)

Another example:

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I started off by saying these chord changes get used over and over again. Now, sometimes we need to be original when writing songs, and sometimes we don’t. Knowing these common tools gives you a short cut, a place to start.

Besides which, Every Breath you Take was composed a long time after Stand by Me, and it more than makes up for having common chord changes, doesn’t it?

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More posts on the same subject:

Basics – Standard Chord Progressions 2

Chromatic Chords – a few options

Stealing Ideas from Madness – House of Fun

Basics – chords in the major scale